Illinois
Iowa State football adds Mason Ellens, a three-star recruit out of Illinois, to 2025 class
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Iowa State football commit and Valley wide receiver Zay Robinson discusses coming out to prospect camp, working with the Cyclones’ coaches and more.
Iowa State football added its second commit of the day Sunday afternoon with three-star, 2025 recruit Mason Ellens of Glen Ellyn, Illinois pledging his talents to the Cyclones.
Earlier in the day, Karon Brookins also committed to Iowa State for the 2025 class.
Ellens is the No. 26 overall recruit from Illinois, according to 247Sports rankings, playing both defensive back and wide receiver at Glenbard West High School. The 6-foot, 175-pound athlete has top-end speed as a track star, running a 10.73 100-meter dash. He used that speed to return kickoffs in high school as well.
It appears that Ellens is trending toward being a defensive back for the Cyclones, praising safeties coach Deon Broomfield for his role in his recruitment. Ellens also lists himself as a defensive back on his social media accounts.
“Coach Campbell, thank you for this amazing opportunity,” Ellens said. “Coach Broomfield thank you for being consistent and believing in me.”
In addition to the offer from Iowa State, Ellens held offers from Iowa, Boston College, Minnesota and several other Division I programs. He is the ninth commit in Iowa State’s 2025 class and the lone defensive back in the group.
The road to playing time right away will be steep for Ellens, with 22 defensive backs currently on the roster and just four set to graduate by the time he arrives on campus. But the speed Ellens brings to the table could be a factor in special teams right away.
Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23
Illinois
Pritzker blasts Johnson’s push to keep Bears in Chicago: ‘The mayor has no plan’
CHICAGO (WLS) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker had some harsh words for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday, exposing the deep divide between the two leaders over the future of the Chicago Bears.
It comes as the legislature heads into the final two weeks of the session with still no deal on a bill to enable the team to move to Arlington Heights.
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Pritzker favors helping the Bears move to Arlington Heights rather than losing them to Hammond, Indiana. But Johnson insists that the best thing for the Bears is to stay in Chicago. In his strongest words yet, the governor dismissed that notion.
“He has no plan. There’s no plan,” Pritzker said.
While speaking to reporters on Monday, Pritzker called Johnson out for continuing to push for the Bears to stay at Soldier Field despite the team repeatedly making it clear that if they are going to stay in Illinois, it will be in Arlington Heights at the former racetrack property the team owns. If it is not there, they will pursue the offer from Indiana to build a stadium in Hammond.
As lawmakers consider a so-called megaprojects bill that would give the Bears a property tax break on a new stadium in Arlington Heights, the governor was frustrated by Johnson’s Chicago push.
“I know that the mayor has no plan. He has come up with no plan at all about how the Bears would end up in the city of Chicago. So, that’s problematic. I’d love them to be in the city, but we’re three years in now, and he still has no plan,” Pritzker said.
The mayor’s office responded, saying, in part, “The City’s proposal remains the only plan centered on public ownership alongside a funding mechanism that does not burden property taxpayers while keeping the Bears in Chicago.”
And while Johnson says he will continue to work with stakeholders to keep the Bears where they are, the governor took another swipe related to budget requests, suggesting significant Chicago and Springfield communication problems.
“Again, we’ve seen almost nothing out of the mayoral administration here on that subject, or really any other. And so, to show up in May and have a bunch of demands seems like late in the game, and it’s unfortunate that’s happened most years,” Pritzker said.
Meanwhile, there are concerns about infrastructure needs around the Arlington Heights property. Particularly, roads and major interchanges would need upgrades. The concerns prompted mayors from neighboring Palatine, Rolling Meadows, and Schaumburg to send letters to the governor and leading lawmakers requesting a seat at the table over those plans.
“We’re very concerned about, how is all this traffic when you’re dealing with 60,000-70,000 people that are going to be either for a Bears game or a concert or some other event that’s there? How are they going to get around?” said Schaumburg Mayor Tom Dailly.
While the stadium politics continue to play out in Illinois, the Bears are planning to provide the NFL with an update on their future plans at the league’s meeting on Tuesday in Orlando.
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Illinois
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Illinois
Fire sweeps through old Balmoral Park racetrack facilities in Crete, Illinois
A fire at the vacant old Balmoral Park racetrack in Crete, Illinois, sent smoke billowing over several south Chicago suburbs Sunday morning.
Around 6:30 a.m., flames raced through the structures on the old racetrack grounds. Fire departments from several suburbs, as well as Northwest Indiana, were called in to help.
Balmoral Park dates back to 1926, when it opened as Lincoln Fields. The racetrack hosted both thoroughbred and harness races over the years.
A fire also damaged the grandstand at the racetrack during renovations in 1952, forcing the races for the 1952-53 season to move to Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney. Balmoral in turn picked up some races in 1986 after a fire destroyed the grandstand at Arlington Park in Arlington Heights the summer before.
Balmoral Park was hosting only harness racing when it closed at the end of 2015. The property was purchased the following year by Horse Shows In The Sun as a hunter-jumper horse show venue, but this only lasted a few years and the property has stood vacant ever since, reports noted.
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